The new ACCA Qualification is designed to provide the accounting knowledge, skills and professional values which will deliver finance professionals who are capable of building successful careers across all sectors, whether they are working in the public or private sectors, practicing in accounting firms, or pursuing a career in business.

The launch of the new qualification follows an extensive and detailed consultation process, which started back in November 2004. Over 17,000 members and students took part in the member competences and the student aspirations surveys, which formed the basis of the new qualification proposals.

Following this research, ACCA consulted internationally with students, members, employers, tuition providers, other professional accountancy bodies and regulators and received over 30,000 responses to its various research initiatives. Commenting on the consultation process, Clare Minchington, ACCA's managing director – education, learning and development, said: 'As an organisation that advocates transparency, it was imperative that we conducted a detailed and comprehensive review to ensure that the views of all our key stakeholders were taken into consideration when developing the new ACCA Qualification. I have been delighted by the volume of feedback we have received, and can confidently say that we have listened and acted upon the responses. As a result, we are very confident that the new ACCA Qualification will meet the requirements of students, members, tuition providers, employers, and the various organisations we partner.'

In addition to responding to the needs of its stakeholders, ACCA has designed a qualification which embeds the global accounting education standards set by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). There is a strong focus on professional values, ethics, and governance. These skills are essential as the profession moves towards strengthened codes of conduct, regulation, and legislation – with an increasing focus on professionalism and ethics in accounting. They will be examined at the highest level in the new ACCA Qualification, and will be a core element of students' practical experience requirements.

You will need to complete 14 papers in total. A maximum of nine papers in the Fundamentals level are available for exemption.

The exams are divided into two levels – Fundamentals and Professional.

The Fundamentals level is divided into two modules - Knowledge and Skills. The Knowledge module (F1-F3) introduces students to the core areas of financial and management accounting. This provides the platform from which the other technical accountancy areas will be studied in greater detail in the Skills module. The Skills module (F4-F9) contains six subjects which comprehensively cover the main technical areas that any accountant - regardless of their future career aspirations - are expected to have mastered. These comprise law, performance management, taxation, financial reporting, auditing, and financial management.

The Professional level is divided into two modules - Essentials (P1-P3) and Options (P4-P7). Both modules have been set at an intellectual level equivalent to that expected of a student taking a Masters degree. The focus of the syllabus at this level is to build upon the technical skills already acquired, and explore more advanced professional skills, techniques, and values that are required and used by the expert accountant acting in an advisory or consultancy role at a senior level. All students must complete the three papers in the Essentials module. The Options module contains four papers. These are directly underpinned and supported by their equivalent within the Skills module in the Fundamentals level. These exams assess the more advanced and sophisticated techniques that a professional needs in order to specialise in specific areas at work, or to follow as a career pathway in an advisory or consultancy role. Students select two out of four Option papers and are advised to choose the options that relate to their chosen or anticipated field of work.

Practical Experience Requirement (PER)

Key features of the PER

Exam format

Knowledge module exams will be two-hours long. They will be available both as computer-based exams (CBEs) – providing automatic marking and immediate results – and also as traditional paper-based exams. CBEs at higher levels of the qualification will not be introduced as part of the new qualification.

Skills module exams and all Professional level exams will be three-hours long plus an additional 15 minutes reading time and will make use of a range of assessment methods such as short-answer questions, extended computational exercises, essays, scenarios and case studies.

How long it will take